EP2823095B1 - Crimping apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a crimping device for crimping a multifilament filament bundle in a melt spinning process according to the preamble of claim 1.

In the production of crimped yarns in a melt spinning process, the crimping of the yarns is effected by swaging the filament bundles into a respective yarn plug. In this known process, the filaments are laid down in loops and sheets to the yarn plug and compressed by upsetting the filament bundles, so that after dissolution of the yarn plug, a thread is formed with crimped filaments. The expression of the crimp contained in the filaments here depends essentially on the thermal treatment of the yarn pot. In order to allow retention times as long as possible for the tempering of the yarn plug, treatment devices have proven in the prior art, in which the yarn plug produced after compression is guided on a treatment drum with multiple wrapping.

Such a crimping device is for example from the DE 26 32 082 A1 and EP 0 003 952 A1 known. In the known crimping device, a delivery nozzle, a stuffer box and a treatment device with a treatment drum are arranged one below the other. Here are basically two different positions of the treatment drum known to receive a lead out of the stuffer box yarn plug and lead. In a first variant, the axis of the treatment drum is substantially aligned horizontally, so that the yarn plug must be performed at a Mehrfachumschlingung at the periphery of the treatment drum substantially in the horizontal direction. In this arrangement of the treatment drum, the turns of the yarn plug must be moved on the circumference of the drum wall in order to obtain a helical course of the yarn plug on the circumference of the treatment drum. In this case, depending on the nature of the drum wall, more or less strong entanglements of adjacent turns of the yarn plug may occur. In addition, feed means are used. To move the turns of the yarn plug axially.

In a second variant of the arrangement of the treatment drum, the latter is aligned substantially vertically with its axis, so that the yarn plugs guided helically on the circumference of the treatment drum receive natural support in their advancing movement on the circumference of the drum wall. In that regard, relatively low feed forces are needed to guide the helical course of the yarn plug from the upper end of the treatment drum to a lower end of the treatment drum. In this case, the feeding of the yarn plug is effected by an upstream deflection between the stuffer box and the treatment chamber. Such deflections usually represent an uncontrolled for the temperature control of the yarn plug zone, which should be performed as short as possible.

It is an object of the invention to provide a crimping device for crimping a multifilament filament bundle in a melt spinning process of the generic type, in which the yarn plug for thermal Treatment with several wraps gently on the circumference of a treatment drum is feasible.

Another object of the invention is to develop the generic crimping device such that the leadership of the yarn plug can be done on the circumference of the treatment drum substantially without a feed device.

This object is achieved in that the yarn plug from a stopper outlet of the stuffer box in a straight run the circumference of the drum wall can be fed.

Advantageous developments of the invention are defined by the features and feature combinations of the subclaims.

The invention is characterized in that the natural weight of the yarn plug can be used to supply the yarn plug without deflection of the treatment drum. The change in direction of the yarn plug on the circumference of the treatment drum is effected solely by the relative speeds between the yarn plug and the drum wall. The vertically aligned with its axis treatment drum ensures a feed of the individual turns of the yarn plug without greater feed forces.

The leadership of the yarn plug on the periphery of the treatment drum can be further improved by that according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the drum wall at a short distance an outer cylinder is associated, which surrounds the cooling drum shell-shaped and that between the outer cylinder and the drum wall, a circumferential annular chamber is designed to guide the yarn plug. The yarn plug can in this case lead directly from the stopper outlet directly to the annular chamber, so that the prevailing between the yarn plug and the drum wall sliding friction can be reduced to a minimum.

On the one hand to facilitate filling of the annular chamber on the circumference of the treatment drum and on the other hand to obtain a fixation of the yarn plug on the circumference of the drum before dissolution of the yarn plug, the development of the invention is preferably carried out in which the annular chamber to an upper end of the outer cylinder an inlet opening and to a lower end of the outer cylinder has an outlet opening between the drum wall and the outer cylinder, and that the annular chamber has a tapering in the axial direction of the outlet opening chamber cross-section. The chamber cross-section can thus be made preferably larger in the inlet region of the annular chamber than a diameter of the yarn plug. Thus, the yarn plug can be stored directly after the upsetting without any compression directly in the annular chamber. By the subsequent tapering of the chamber cross-section is achieved that in the lower region of the annular chamber secure fixation of the yarn plug is possible. For this purpose, the chamber cross-section in the region of the outlet opening to a size which is substantially smaller than the diameter of the yarn plug.

In order to obtain a secure guidance within the annular chamber with fine titers and correspondingly low yarn weights, it is further provided that that the inlet opening of the annular chamber is associated with a segment-shaped hold-down, which partially covers the inlet opening. Thus, even with a tapering chamber cross section, a secure guidance of the plug layers within the annular chamber is achieved.

In order to obtain low relative speeds between the treatment drum and the outer cylinder, the development of the invention is particularly advantageous, in which the outer cylinder is rotatable and coupled to a rotary drive which drives the cylinder wall in the same direction to the drum wall of the treatment drum. Thus, the cylinder wall can be driven in the same direction to the drum wall with a circumferential speed in such a way that no differential speed prevails between the walls of the annular chamber. In principle, however, it is also possible to set desired differential speeds between the cylinder wall and the drum wall to produce special effects when guiding the yarn plug.

In a synchronous drive of the treatment drum and the outer cylinder, the development of the invention has been proven in which the treatment drum is driven by an electric motor which is coupled to the rotary drive of the outer cylinder. Thus, both walls can be driven together by an electric motor in the same direction.

For temperature control of the yarn plug on the periphery of the treatment chamber, the invention offers a high degree of flexibility in the choice and design of the temperature control. In a first variant, the drum wall of the treatment chamber is designed to be permeable to gas, wherein the treatment drum coupled with a fan for generating a cooling air flow is. Thus, for example, the fan inside the treatment drum could generate a negative pressure, so that the pending ambient air is sucked in via the drum wall and can be used to cool the yarn plug. Alternatively, however, there is also the possibility that the fan inside the treatment chamber generates an overpressure, so that a cooling air flow is adjusted from the inside to the outside.

Regardless of the nature of the blower, the yarn plug can also advantageously be cooled within the annular chamber in which the outer cylinder has a gas-permeable cylinder wall.

Basically, however, there is also the possibility that a liquid is used as the temperature control, which is guided by fluid channels within the treatment chamber for controlling the temperature of the drum wall. Here, both cold and warm liquids can be used to carry out a temperature control of the yarn plug.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying figures with reference to several embodiments.

Fig. 1

schematisch eine Querschnittsansicht eines ersten Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Kräuselvorrichtung

Fig. 2

schematisch eine Seitenansicht des Ausführungsbeispiels aus Fig. 1

Fig. 3

schematisch eine Querschnittsansicht eines weiteren Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Kräuselvorrichtung

Fig. 4

schematisch eine Querschnittsansicht eines weiteren Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Kräuselvorrichtung

Fig. 5

schematisch ein Ausschnitt einer Querschnittsansicht eines weiteren Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Kräuselvorrichtung

They show:

Fig. 1

schematically a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention

Fig. 2

schematically a side view of the embodiment of Fig. 1

Fig. 3

schematically a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention

Fig. 4

schematically a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention

Fig. 5

schematically a section of a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention

In the Fig. 1 and 2 a first embodiment is shown schematically in several views. Both representations show the embodiment in operation, wherein Fig. 1 a partial cross section of the complete device and Fig. 2 a side view shows. Inasmuch as no reference is made to one of the figures, the following description applies to both figures.

The embodiment according to Fig. 1 and 2 has a delivery nozzle 1, which is coupled via a fluid connection 2 with a fluid source, not shown here. The delivery nozzle 1 includes a continuous guide channel 30, which in the Fig. 1 and 2 is shown in dashed lines. The guide channel 30 penetrates the delivery nozzle 1 and thus forms an inlet at the upper end. The lower end of the guide channel 30 of the delivery nozzle 1 opens into a stuffer box 3. The stuffer box 3 is also in Fig. 1 and 2 shown in dashed lines and formed in a housing 31. The housing 31 has on its underside a plug outlet 4, which is connected to the compression chamber 3 in the interior of the housing 1.

Below the stopper outlet 4, a treatment device 7 is arranged. The treatment device 7 has a rotatable treatment drum 8, which is connected via a drive shaft 16 with a rotary drive, not shown here.

As from the illustration in Fig. 1 shows, the treatment drum 8 is formed as a hollow cylinder, the drum wall 9 has a plurality of openings. The end faces of the treatment drum 8 are closed and coupled via a suction channel 32 with a blower 17.

The treatment drum 8 is vertically aligned with the drum axis so that the drum wall 9 extends in a vertical direction from an upper end to a lower end. The upper end of the drum wall 9 of the stuffer box 3 is assigned to the stuffer box 3 at a short distance. The stuffer box 3 is arranged axially parallel to the treatment drum 8, that a yarn plug 6 is guided in a straight run between the stopper 4 of the stuffer box 3 and the periphery of the drum wall.

As from the illustration in Fig. 2 shows, the yarn plug is deflected only after hitting the circumference of the drum wall 9 by the rotational movement of the drum wall 9 in the circumferential direction of the treatment drum 8. In this case, the temperature generated by the treatment drum 8 already occurs. The yarn plug 6 is deposited on the circumference of the drum wall 9 as the rotary movement continues on the drum wall 9 in several turns. Only at the lower end of the drum wall 9, the resolution of the yarn plug 6 takes place to a crimped thread 18th

At the in Fig. 1 and 2 illustrated Ausführungsbespiel a filament bundle 5 is continuously conveyed through the feed nozzle 1 via a preferred hot fluid, for example, a heated compressed air into the stuffer box 3 and there compressed to a yarn plug 6. For further temperature control and fixation of the crimp in the filaments, the yarn plug 6 is then fed directly to the treatment device 7. In this embodiment, the treatment device 7 on a cooling air as a temperature control. For this purpose, the fan 17 generates a negative pressure in the interior of the treatment drum 8, so that over the gas-permeable drum wall 9, a suction flow is generated from outside to inside. For temperature control, in particular for cooling the yarn plug 6, an ambient air is used in this embodiment. At the same time a secure hold of the turns of the yarn plug 6 on the circumference of the drum wall 9 is effected via the suction flow.

At the in Fig. 1 and 2 illustrated embodiment, the cooling air flow is used both for temperature control and for holding the yarn plug on the circumference of the drum wall 9. To be able to use the cooling air exclusively for temperature control is in Fig. 3 a further embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention shown. The embodiment according to Fig. 3 is essentially identical to the embodiment according to Fig. 1 , so that only the differences will be explained below and otherwise reference is made to the above description.

To guide the yarn plug on the circumference of the drum wall 9 of the treatment drum 8, an outer cylinder 10 is assigned. The outer cylinder 10 has a gas-permeable cylinder wall 11, which is formed with a short distance enveloping the drum wall 9. Between the drum wall 9 and the cylinder wall 11, an annular chamber 12 for receiving the yarn plug 6 is formed. The annular chamber 12 has at the upper end of the treatment drum 8 an inlet opening 13 and on lower end of the treatment drum 8 an outlet opening 14. The inlet opening 13 is assigned a segment-shaped holding-down device 15, which acts on the windings of the yarn stopper 6 deposited in the annular chamber 12. The outer cylinder 10 is rotatably supported by a bearing device 19 on an upper support 20.

The treatment drum 8 and the stuffer box 3 and the delivery nozzle 1 are identical to the aforementioned embodiment according to Fig. 1 executed, so that at this point to avoid repetition no further explanation.

At the in Fig. 3 illustrated embodiment, the yarn plug 6 is guided in the straight run of the stopper outlet 4 of the stuffer box 3 in the annular chamber 12 on the circumference of the drum wall 9. The fixation of the thread plug turns on the circumference of the drum wall 9 is in this case essentially taken over by the cylinder wall 11 of the outer cylinder 10. In this case, the outer cylinder 10 is driven in the same direction over the treatment drum 8. For temperature control over the fan 17 in the interior of the treatment drum 8, an overpressure is generated, so that a cooling air flow penetrate the turns of the yarn plug 6 from inside to outside.

At the in Fig. 3 illustrated embodiment, the rotary drive of the outer cylinder 10 via the driven treatment drum 8. For this purpose, it is necessary that the guided in the annular chamber 12 yarn stopper windings are used for rotary transmission. In order to make a possible stress-free guidance of the yarn plug is in Fig. 4 a further embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention shown. In this exemplary embodiment of the crimping device, which is shown schematically in a cross-sectional view, the outer cylinder has its own rotary drive, so that both the drum wall 9 and the cylinder wall 11 are drivable in the same direction.

The embodiment in Fig. 4 has a delivery nozzle 1 and a stuffer box 3, which are identical to the aforementioned embodiments.

The treatment device 7 is arranged between an upper support 20 and a lower support 21 in this embodiment. The lower carrier 21 carries a treatment drum 8, which has a cup-shaped drum wall 9. The drum wall 9 is associated with an inner ring 22 having a plurality of fluid channels 23 at the periphery. The fluid channels 23 may be formed spirally as a groove or as a plurality of grooves with connecting grooves. The fluid channels 23 are coupled to a fluid supply, not shown here. Within the fluid channels 23, a tempered fluid is preferably passed through a liquid, so that the inside of the drum wall 9 is tempered directly via the fluid.

The inner ring 22 and the drum wall 9 are connected to the drive shaft 16. At a free end, the drive shaft 16 is coupled via a rotary drive 25 with an electric motor 27.

On the upper support 20, an outer cylinder 10 is rotatably supported via a bearing device 19. The outer cylinder 10 extends with a cylindrical wall 11 shell-shaped to the drum wall 9 and forms with the drum wall 9 an annular chamber 12. The annular chamber 12 has an upper Inlet opening 13 and a lower outlet opening 14. The inlet opening 13 is covered by a hold-down 15 of the partial circumference. The hold-down 15 is held in the upper region of the annular chamber 12 for this purpose.

At the periphery of the outer cylinder 10 engages a rotary drive 24, which is coupled to the electric motor 27. The rotary drive 24 is formed in this embodiment by a rotating ring gear 33 and a held on a motor shaft 26 gear 34.

The rotary drive 25 of the treatment drum 8 is formed by a gear pair 35 which connects the drive shaft 16 with the motor shaft 26. The motor shaft 26 extends for this purpose axially parallel to the treatment drum 8. On the upper support 20 of the electric motor 27 is arranged and coupled directly to the motor shaft 26.

The rotary drives 24 and 25 are designed such that upon rotation of the motor shaft 26, the cylinder wall 11 of the outer cylinder 10 and the drum wall 9 of the treatment drum 8 can be operated without differential speed. Thus, a slip-free guidance of the yarn plug turns within the annular chamber 12 is possible.

For tempering, a radiant heater 28 is assigned to the lower support 21 to the lower end of the cylinder wall 11, which in the region of the outlet opening 14 of the annular chamber 12, a temperature control in this case allows heating of the yarn plug. Such thermal aftertreatments may in particular favor the fixation of the crimp in the filaments.

The function of the embodiment according to Fig. 4 is essentially identical to the embodiment according to Fig. 3 , The embodiment according to Fig. 4 however, it is particularly suitable for crimping at higher speeds. Due to the synchronous drive in the drum wall 9 and the cylinder wall 11 a gentle plug treatment is possible even at higher speeds.

The in the Figures 3 and 4 illustrated embodiments each have an annular chamber 12 on the circumference of the treatment drum 8, which is formed by parallel walls 9 and 11 substantially. In principle, however, it is also possible to form the annular chamber 12 on the circumference of the treatment drum 8 with variable chamber cross sections.

In Fig. 5 a further embodiment of the crimping device according to the invention is shown schematically with reference to a section of a cross-sectional view of the treatment device 7. At the in Fig. 5 illustrated embodiment, the treatment device 7 is formed on the circumference of the treatment drum 8, an annular chamber 12 between the drum wall 9 and the cylinder wall 11 of the outer cylinder 10. Here, the cylinder wall 11 of the outer cylinder 10 is slightly frusto-conical, so that adjusts a tapering in the axial direction chamber cross-section in the annular chamber 12. In the region of the inlet opening 13, the annular chamber has a chamber cross-section, which is preferably larger than a diameter of the yarn plug 6. At the lower end of the outer cylinder 10, the annular chamber 12 preferably has a chamber cross-section which is smaller than the diameter of the yarn plug. This can be done in particular a required for dissolving the yarn plug fixation.

Furthermore, from the illustration in Fig. 5 can be seen that the drum wall 9 and the cylinder wall 11 each have a plurality of fluid channels 23, 9 and 11 each lead to a tempered fluid for temperature control of the walls. In this case, there is also the possibility that the fluid channels are divided into several zones, so that, for example, in an upper region of the annular chamber uses a cooling and in a lower region of the annular chamber, a heating of the yarn plug.

This in Fig. 5 illustrated embodiment also has the particular advantage that the turns of the yarn plug 6 are guided on a smooth drum wall 9 and a smooth cylinder wall 11. An unwanted collection of individual filaments in shell openings is not possible. In that regard, the embodiment is after Fig. 5 especially suitable for fine denier yarns.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

feed nozzle

2

fluid port

3

stuffer

4

plug outlet

5

filament bundles

6

yarn plug

7

treatment facility

8th

treatment drum

9

drum wall

10

outer cylinder

11

cylinder wall

12

annular chamber

13

inlet opening

14

outlet opening

15

Stripper plate

16

drive shaft

17

fan

18

thread

19

Storage facility

20

upper carrier

21

lower carrier

22

inner ring

23

fluid channels

24

Rotary drive outer cylinder

25

Rotary drive treatment drum

26

motor shaft

27

electric motor

28

heater

29

camp

30

guide channel

31

casing

32

suction

33

sprocket

34

gear

35

gear pair

Claims (10)

1. Crimping apparatus for crimping a multifilament bundle in a melt spinning process, having a conveyor nozzle (1), having a stuffer box (3), which for stuffing the filament bundle conveyed by the conveyor nozzle (1) is assigned to the conveyor nozzle (1), and having a processing unit (7), which has a rotatable processing drum (8) having a rotating drum wall (9) for guiding and temperature control of a thread plug (6) produced by the stuffer box (3), wherein the stuffer box (3) is disposed axially parallel to the processing drum (7),
   characterized in that
   the thread plug (6) can be infed in a straight run from a plug outlet (4) of the stuffer box (3) to the circumference of the drum wall (9).
2. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
   characterized in that
   the drum wall (9), at a short distance therefrom, is assigned an outer cylinder (10) which encompasses the processing drum (8) in a sleeve-like manner and in that, for guiding the thread plug (6), an encircling annular chamber (12) is configured between the outer cylinder (11) and the drum wall (9).
3. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 2,
   characterized in that
   the annular chamber (12) has an inlet opening (13) to an upper end of the outer cylinder (10) and an outlet opening (14) to a lower end of the outer cylinder (10) between the drum wall (9) and the outer cylinder (10), and in that the annular chamber (12) has a chamber cross section which tapers off in the axial direction toward the outlet opening (14).
4. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 3,
   characterized in that
   the inlet opening (13) of the annular chamber (12) is assigned a segment-shaped holding-down element (15) which partially covers the inlet opening (13).
5. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claims 2 to 4,
   characterized in that
   the outer cylinder (10) is configured so as to be rotatable and is coupled to a rotational drive (24) which drives a cylinder wall (11) in the same direction of rotation as the drum wall (9) of the processing drum (8).
6. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
   characterized in that
   the processing drum (8) is driven by an electric motor (27) and in that the electric motor (27) is coupled to the rotational drive (24) of the outer cylinder (10).
7. Crimping apparatus as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6,
   characterized in that
   the drum wall (9) of the processing drum (8) and/or the cylinder wall (11) of the outer cylinder (10) are/is assigned at least one temperature-control means (17, 23, 28) for cooling and/or heating.
8. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 7,
   characterized in that
   the temperature-control means is a cooling air, in that the drum wall (9) of the processing drum (8) is configured so as to be gas-permeable, and in that the processing drum (8) is coupled to a blower (17) for generating the cooling air.
9. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 8,
   characterized in that
   the outer cylinder (10) has a gas-permeable cylinder wall (11).
10. Crimping apparatus as claimed in claim 7,
    characterized in that
    the temperature-control means is a fluid, which for temperature control of the drum wall (9) is guided through fluid ducts (23) within the processing drum (8).

Images